What book have you read that wasn’t subjectively “bad” but you regrets reading all the same?

For me, Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. The book was engaging and it kept me on my toes, but I just with I hadn’t “poisoned my head” with all the graphic gore that was in there. I years later i still think about this and how I really wish I had never read it.

Question inspired by a comment /u/PrincessOfWales made in another thread :)

  • Fragrant_Tale1428@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    The Road, Cormac McCarthy. After I was done, I thought to myself, how can the book keep me reading but leave me feeling so empty and unsatisfied at the end? I ruminated on this feeling for a couple of weeks - why did I read that but not regretting I read it?

    • Soggy_Cup1314@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I think you feeling that way was exactly what Cormac had in mind. Spoiler for anyone so stop reading, but when his wife kills herself it was depressing but so accurate because be honest if the world ended tomorrow the people who initially survived would start offing themselves within a year. People would start resorting to cannibalism and murder almost immediately. It’s a true apocalypse book that holds no punches and I appreciate it tremendously.

      • lydiardbell@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

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    • trash_babe@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I read The Road for a class at the beginning of a depressive episode. I then had to read a semesters worth of Cormac McCarthy books, including Blood Meridian and Outer Dark. I really appreciate his skill as an author but my god the last thing I needed to do at that time was deeply read and analyze those books for hours on end. I want to finish the Border Trilogy but it’s been 12 years and this lady still needs a break from that level of bleakness.

      • Fragrant_Tale1428@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Omg. That sounds absolutely horrible. I’m so glad you were able to find your way out and through that. What a resilient being you are!

      • katchoo1@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        I had that experience with James Ellroy. Incredible writer but bleak and misanthropic world view. And I understand that McCarthy is several notches beyond that so I’m probably never gonna read that guy.

    • Enngeecee76@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Try Blood Meridian next. Omg. Cormac McCarthy had a gift for describing the most graphic and brutal scenes of depravity with utter beauty

    • BeeButtAfficionado@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      No! The road is devastating yes, but it’s beautiful. The horror is the medium not the point. It’s about the devotion and courage and strength It’s about the father’s love for his son.

    • WickedLilThing@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      My brother was never a reader but he decided to pick that book up. He stayed up all night reading it. I was shocked

    • MeloniaStb@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Had to read thus for high school English class. Thought I’d pick out a random book from the pile. Now that I think about it, he probably put it in there with no approval from any higher ups cause I had no business reading that at 15!